It’s time to head to work, and as you walk out to your car you see it-a flat! Or worse, you’re driving along and suddenly you hear “BANG! thump, thump, thump.” Oh no! A blowout!
Tire failure. Does it ever happen at a good time? Is it ever welcome? I think it’s one of the things we dread most. At the very least it’s a frustrating disruption; and of course it can easily be much more serious.
I remember some while back a rash of blowouts on the NASCAR race circuit. Goodyear Tire was getting lots of bad publicity about their tires. To defend themselves, they held a press conference to address these “rapid decompressions” – nice euphemism for blowouts, don’t you think? (Smart PR and legal teams!)
What is tire failure? Simply put, it’s the inability of the tire to hold air. And when it happens to you, it just feels so… deflating! One minute you’re doing fine; the next you’re defeated… discouraged… drained. That’s why the emotion I think of in the context of tire failure is dread.
Interestingly, dread is something God talks about. More alarmingly, there are certain occasions where He guarantees us hearts full of dread.
Your life will hang in doubt and you will be filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!” – because of the dread that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see… if you are not careful to observe all the words of the law which are written in this book, and to fear this honored and awesome name of the Lord. *
Now I don’t particularly enjoy reading harsh warnings and thinking about painful consequences. But I made a commitment in 2009 to study all that God says about the heart. And, in the course of that study, I came to these very sobering words.
Well, I’ll tell you this much. My dread of tire failure is really helping me internalize that warning about a heart of dread. It’s causing me to renew my commitment to walk with the Lord in careful obedience and reverence. I hope you will, too.
Blessings,
Paul
* Deuteronomy 28:58, 66,67